Arsene Wenger has called on Arsenal to prove they are still the best side in England by winning what he maintains is the greatest prize of all - the Premiership.

The Arsenal boss wants his players to ride the "left and right blows" of the past week and ahead of today's vital game against Liverpool, he will remind them they are still a great team.

He maintained it would still be a notable success to lift the title, even though Arsenal have lost in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and Carling Cup, as well as the Champions League quarter-finals.

Wenger accepts Chelsea are joint-favourites for the Champions League, along with Deportivo La Coruna, after their midweek success at Highbury coupled with the exits of Real Madrid and AC Milan. Manchester United, meanwhile, are odds-on favourites to beat Millwall in the FA Cup Final, having defeated Arsenal in the semi-finals last weekend.

However, Wenger said: "The team that wins the European Cup is not necessarily the best team in Europe. It's a cup game. Just like the team that wins the FA Cup is not necessarily the best team in the country.

"I still think that the championship is the real reflection of the quality of the team as it needs consistency. I don't think that Monaco would be in front of Real Madrid if they played in the same championship.

"The day that anyone says winning the title is a failure, I would tell them they are really stupid. That would be pretentious to say that as it's the most difficult to win. You can always feel that you could have achieved more but it would be stupid to spoil our season now."

Wenger nevertheless admits that, even with a four-point lead and a game in hand, the title race is far from settled just yet. After all, Chelsea have new-found belief and face Middlesbrough and Aston Villa over the weekend, while Arsenal take on Liverpool and Newcastle in just 48 hours.

Thierry Henry has at least provided his team with a fitness boost by his speedy recovery from a back problem, but he will still - realistically - only be able to manage one of those fixtures. But while Gerard Houllier has told his Liverpool players to beware a "wounded animal" at Highbury, Wenger will instead tell his team to behave like "clever animals" ahead of such a vital game.

Above all, he will remind them just how well they have played in setting a new top-flight record of 30 league games undefeated since the start of the season.

"I must concede that it's far from being done yet, Chelsea can get a lift, it's up to us to respond and quickly," he said.

"The players are disappointed but they are focused. They are intelligent and they know how much effort they've put in already. It's up to me to remind them how strong and great they are. Sometimes you can forget that when you've had two big disappointments.

"My job is to get that back into their brains again. This is a massive game for us - as important as our last two matches.

"When you've been knocked from the right and the left, it's difficult to walk normally again. So it's very important for us to get back to normal business. We want to come out strong mentally and we shouldn't feel too sorry for ourselves.

"You don't achieve 30 games unbeaten in the modern game without a special character."

Champions League defeat has still hurt Wenger, especially as he sees the Blues' path to the final as "a bit of an open way".